Images of December

This very behind blogger has finally learned to download pictures from her new camera to computer, so here we go people! December as told in pictures . . .

Sophia has a thing for little nooks to hang out in . . . the latest is the bottom shelf of our dining room bookshelf.

Perfect place to read "Pat the Bunny." (Which, completely off topic, I kind of thought was about a bunny named Pat before I had a kid, who now asks me to read it to her umpteen times a day.)

Fun place to hide out #2: any cardboard box, of which there are many in our house right now, as I have done 99% of my Christmas shopping on amazon.

Fun place to hide out #3: the antique hutch in the dining room. Of course, catching a picture of Sophia actually in it is difficult . . . she tends to stop whatever she was doing to ham it up for the camera as soon as she realizes what I am up to.

The latest eating dilemma. How to convince your 16-month old that her foot really doesn't belong on the table while she is eating. Especially hard to convince her of that when both parents are snapping pictures on each side of the table. Hmmm.

The joy of a high calorie, high fat diet! Enjoy it while it lasts, kiddo.

Fun times with cousin Zuzu!

No, Sophia and Zuzu did not trade clothing between the previous picture and this one, they just have a lot of the same clothes.

Including the same shoes! (What can I say, I have good taste in baby clothes, so Kristin has no choice but to copycat. And I'm pretty sure that will earn me a comment!) At any rate, look, they are sharing!

And this is how most photo sessions end, with Sophia coming for the camera.

Thanks to Aunt Betsy, Uncle Tom, and Allie, Sophia has been very busy playing with her new nativity set . . . definitely wins favorite toy award! Now John and I can illustrate the Christmas story when we read it to her, and Sophia especially loves baby "Chesus." We're still working on the J sound . . .

Ok, this is just randomness. For some reason, Sophia had a desire to wear pants on her head. Who am I to deny such fun?

I know this picture is TINY, but thought it was so funny I had to include it. My dad was watching Sophia last week, and she wanted to play with his glasses. How can you not take a picture of that? If only it were not with a camera phone, so I could blow it up!

This is randomness as well, three of the four hats I have made this fall. Of course, the one I made for Bridgette is my favorite by far, but I forgot to get a picture before I gave it to her. Grrrr.

And today's fun! Aviva came over to play with Sophia, and we all trekked outside to "play" in the snow . . . a first for Sophia!

Of course, you will note that Sophia's facial expression seemed to "freeze" in place as soon as we got outside . . . I have no idea what she thought of the snow!

Aviva very kindly tried to show her what you do with the snow, but even that failed to inspire any kind of movement, facial or limb, from Sophia.

Note the rain boots, not really worth buying winter boots for a kid who isn't walking yet, and will probably spend a total of half an hour playing outside this winter. Layer up the socks!

So that's all folks, Merry Christmas from this blogger now, 'cause another post is probably not happening before then!

Lasagna, anyone?

I love lasagna. Who doesn't, with it's gooey yumminess? Lasagna combines some of my favorite foods into one . . . cheese, meat, pasta, and more cheese. My mother-in-law makes the best lasagna hands down, even beating out any Italian restaurant you can name. I have tried to duplicate hers, but even with a photocopied recipe in hand I just can't get it to taste as good.

At any rate, in my latest attempt at healthy cooking, I found a recipe for vegetarian lasagna and made it the other night.

Now, I am about the furthest you can be from vegetarian. Sometimes nothing hits the spot better than a juicy bacon cheeseburger with a big side of fries. But I decided to give this recipe a try, with a few changes . . . see below!

Laurel's Vegetarian Lasagna

1 pound lasagna noodles

4-5 cups pasta sauce

2 small or 1 large zucchini, grated

1/2 bag frozen spinach (8 ounces)

1 pound cottage cheese

1 pound mozzarella cheese, grated

Grated parmesan cheese to sprinkle on top

Preheat oven to 350 F.

Cook lasagna noodles according to directions on box.

Mix zucchini and pasta sauce together.

Lightly coat bottom of 9" x 13" pan with layer of pasta sauce.

Place drained lasagna noodles in pan to make a single layer. Cut noodles as necessary to fit.

Next layer in 1/3 cottage cheese, followed by 1/3 spinach, 1/3 mozzarella cheese, then 1/3 sauce.

Repeat noodles, cottage cheese, spinach, mozzarella cheese, and sauce x2.

Sprinkle with parmesan cheese.

Bake for 1 hour, covered with tinfoil for first 30 minutes. Do not let tinfoil touch tomato sauce.

Eat with large amounts of garlic bread.

Eat leftovers for the next three nights!

This recipe definitely still doesn't beat my mother-in-law's, but it is pretty amazing. Neither John nor I miss the meat, probably because there is a ridiculous amount of cheese that tastes divine. Of course, Sophia isn't a big fan, but if it doesn't involve peanut butter or cream cheese she doesn't ever care for it, so her opinion doesn't count.

Monster

I remember a LONG time ago playing Monster with my dad. He would chase us kids around, growling and being very "scary" while we shrieked and ran away and pretended to be terrified. He was a good sport but eventually got tired of the game before we did and we would plead with him to keep playing Monster "please, Daddy?!"

I don't know how old I was when playing Monster turned from fun to silly and I outgrew it, but I'll bet I know when we first started playing! Say, about 16 months or so?

Yes, Sophia has discovered Monster. And actually, she made it up today after nap.

Our living room is set up in such a way that she can circle all the way around the couch, and sometimes she likes to hide out behind it (usually to poop in privacy). Today, though, she just wanted to circle around and around, and it was the most fun if I chased her a little bit, threatening to tickle her (and sometimes actually tickling her) while making growling sounds.

Of course, we did the fun version of Monster, not the scary version. When the chasee is only 16 months old, the monster still smiles a lot.

Knowing how I used to love playing Monster, I expect to get a lot of mileage from the game. Of course, what I never realized back in the day is that it is just as fun to be the Monster as it is being the "scared" little kid.

Now back to playing Monster!